Season summary[]
Beginning with this season, Sanford and Son introduced a new opening sequence, where it shows Fred Sanford wiping the sweat on his head below his hand while waiting for Lamont to come, the next scene shows Lamont driving in his truck to go to the salvage, instead of walking over to the chair to sit while reading a newspaper while waiting for Lamont to come, and Lamont stops the truck in a red light, just like they did in the first four seasons.
Sanford and Son episodes[]
Season | Episodes | Originally aired | DVD release date | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season premiere | Season finale | ||||
Season 1 | 14 | January 14, 1972 | April 14, 1972 | August 6, 2002 | |
Season 2 | 24 | September 15, 1972 | March 16, 1973 | February 4, 2003 | |
Season 3 | 24 | September 14, 1973 | March 29, 1974 | October 7, 2003 | |
Season 4 | 25 | September 13, 1974 | April 25, 1975 | March 30, 2004 | |
Season 5 | 24 | September 12, 1975 | March 19, 1976 | September 14, 2004 | |
Season 6 | 24 | September 24, 1976 | March 25, 1977 | June 7, 2005 |
Season 5: 1975–76 episode summary[]
Season 5 | |||||||
No. in Series | Episode # | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original Airdate | Prod. Code | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
88 | 1 | "Earthquake II" | Bill Foster | Jerry Ross | September 12, 1975 | 509 | |
An earthquake shakes up the Sanfords, and the threat of an even bigger quake sparks Fred to sell the house and seek shelter in Las Vegas. | |||||||
89 | 2 | "Divorce, Sanford Style" | Alan Rafkin | Ted Bergmann | September 19, 1975 | 505 | |
Following a fight with Woodrow, Aunt Esther moves in with Fred and Lamont. Fred works overtime engineering a reconciliation so she'll return home. | |||||||
90 | 3 | "Bank on This" | Alan Rafkin | Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein | September 26, 1975 | 506 | |
Fred and Lamont are applying for a loan to finance their purchase of Julio's former property when a pair of robbers burst into the bank. | |||||||
91 | 4 | "The Sanford Arms" | Mark Warren | Ted Bergman | October 3, 1975 | 508 | |
With the bank ready to foreclose, Fred and Lamont desperately seek to find tenants for the Sanford Arms. | |||||||
92 | 5 | "Steinberg and Son" | James Sheldon | Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein | October 10, 1975 | 511 | |
The series spoofs itself when the characters in the new television show "Steinberg and Son" turn out to be Borscht Belt parallels to those in the life of Fred G. Sanford. | |||||||
93 | 6 | "Brother, Can You Spare an Act?" | Bill Foster | Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein | October 17, 1975 | 510 | |
When Fred's white brother-in-law Rodney lands a job emceeing a local vaudeville revival, Fred, Lamont and Smiley Rogers help out by providing the song and dance. | |||||||
94 | 7 | "Della, Della, Della" | Mark Warren | Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein | October 31, 1975 | 514 | |
When two competing politicians each seek to use Fred's junkyard for a campaign headquarters, Della Reese appeals to Fred to stand by her man. | |||||||
95 | 8 | "Donna Pops The Question" | James Sheldon | Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein | November 7, 1975 | 503 | |
After receiving a proposal from another man, Donna gives Fred one final chance to marry her. | |||||||
96 | 9 | "My Fair Esther" | James Sheldon | Jerry Ross | November 14, 1975 | 512 | |
Fred becomes a latter-day Henry Higgins when he undertakes the task of transforming ugly duckling Esther into a swan so she can win the Mrs. Watts Businessman's Contest and net Fred half the prize money. | |||||||
97 | 10 | "Sanford and Rising Son" | Mark Warren | Ted Bergman and Garry Shandling | November 21, 1975 | 516 | |
Fred and Ah Chew team up and turn the Sanford home into a Japanese restaurant. | |||||||
98 | 11 | "The Olympics" | Mark Warren | Madelyn Davis and Bob Carroll, Jr. | December 5, 1975 | 504 | |
Jealous of Donna's athletic new boyfriend, Fred begins training so he can challenge him in the Senior Olympics. | |||||||
99 | 12 | "Ebenezer Sanford" | James Sheldon | Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein | December 12, 1975 | 518 | |
Tightfisted Fred gets a ghostly wake-up call in this spoof of "A Christmas Carol." | |||||||
100 | 13 | "The Oddfather" | James Sheldon | Saul Turteltaub and Bernie Orenstein | January 2, 1976 | 502 | |
Fred is wounded while witnessing a mob hit and is hospitalized under police protection until he can identify Mr. Big. | |||||||
101 | 14 | "Can You Chop This?" | Mark Warren | Joni Rhodes | January 9, 1976 | 515 | |
Fred plans to get rich quick by selling Whopper Chopper food processors, using Lamont's acting school tuition money to make his initial investment. | |||||||
102 | 15 | "Greatest Show in Watts" | Sid McCoy | Jerry Ross | January 16, 1976 | 513 | |
While babysitting an elephant, Fred holds a circus in the junkyard, allowing the cast to display their talents, especially Aunt Esther as the Bronze Goddess. | |||||||
103 | 16 | "Fred Sanford Has a Baby" | James Sheldon | Jay Burton | January 23, 1976 | 517 | |
A very pregnant woman rents Lamont's room for the week he's away on a fishing trip. | |||||||
104 | 17 | "The TV Addict" | Mark Warren | Jerry Ross | January 30, 1976 | 507 | |
Fred's lifestyle of too much TV and too little exercise has Lamont concerned for his father's health, so Fred undergoes hypnotism to break his addiction to television. | |||||||
105 | 18 | "Lamont in Love" | Alan Rafkin | Ted Bergman | February 6, 1976 | 519 | |
When Lamont falls in love with a mysterious woman, Fred and Esther play amateur sleuths to learn more about her. | |||||||
106 | 19 | "The Escorts" | Alan Rafkin | Jerry Ross | February 13, 1976 | 520 | |
When Fred's friend Elroy can't find a date, Fred's inspired to launch his latest get rich quick scheme: an escort service for seniors. | |||||||
107 | 20 | "The Engagement Man Always Rings Twice" | Lewis Gomavitz | Ted Bergman | February 20, 1976 | 521 | |
Lamont musters the courage to pop the question to Janet. | |||||||
108 | 21 | "The Director" | Alan Rafkin | Garry Shandling | February 27, 1976 | 524 | |
Starstruck Fred assumes the director's chair when the champ George Foreman comes to star in a play for Lamont's theater workshop. | |||||||
109 | 22 | "A Pain in the Neck" | Alan Rafkin | Rick Mittleman | March 5, 1976 | 522 | |
Fred's friends have got his back, as he discovers when he suffers from a backache on the day he is to receive the Watts Businessman's award and his friends rush to his aid with all kinds of quack cures. | |||||||
110 | 23 | "Sergeant Gork" | Bill Wyse | Teleplay by
Ted Bergman Story by Redd Foxx and Ted Bergman |
March 12, 1976 | 525 | |
Fred regales young Roger with tall tales of his World War II exploits that draw more from the late movie than the history books. | |||||||
111 | 24 | "Camping Trip" | Alan Rafkin | Garry Shandling | March 19, 1976 | 523 | |
Lamont brings Fred along on a camping trip to have some solitude and quality time together. Fred is no friend of nature and does nothing but complain...when the truck won't start they are stranded and begin to reminisce about old times. |